The Earth Science Picture of the Day (EPOD) highlights the diverse processes and phenomena which shape our planet and our lives. EPOD will collect and archive photos, imagery, graphics, and artwork with short explanatory captions and links exemplifying features within the Earth system. The community is invited to contribute digital imagery, short captions and relevant links.

Conjunction of Moon, Mercury and Venus on December 12, 2012

The photo above showing the conjunction of the waning crescent Moon (lower left), Mercury (center) and Venus (upper right) was taken from Caen, France, just before sunup on December 12, 2012. A straight line more or less connects the three heavenly objects, demonstrating that the planets and their moons are similarly aligned with respect to the Sun. They all lie on the plane of the ecliptic. Note that Mercury and Venus are the only planets without moons. The burgundy stripe diagonally crossing the picture at bottom is a jet contrail.